By Pierre Tran
LIMOGES, France – Texelis, a builder of powertrains for armored vehicles, was working on an 18-month feasibility study for an electric hub drive to power hybrid diesel/electric vehicles, said Marin Tollet, marketing and communications director.
The feasibility study ran to the end of 2025, he said December 11 on a press tour comprising the correspondent and two student journalists. The press tour included a visit of the company’s factory here, central France, some 3-1/2 hours by train from Paris. There was also a ride in a French army Serval, a light armored troop carrier powered by a conventional diesel engine. Texelis supplies the powertrain, or mobility package, as a joint prime contractor for the vehicle, built by the joint prime contractor partner, KNDS France.
A French army general was due to visit the factory that week, travelling from the capital.
That feasibility study showed “there is interest in the solution,” Tollet said.
The proposed solution consisted of fitting a highly compact electric engine in each wheel, which allowed a smaller diesel motor to be fitted to an armored vehicle. The former was seen as cutting dependence on the latter, and boosting performance.
That new technology could be seen as potentially changing the concept of operations, an analyst said.
Texelis saw the switch to more electric power as transforming vehicle architecture, fielding combat vehicles with lower profile and greater silence, capable of stealth and speed.
The feasibility study looked at fitting the in-wheel electric hub drive on the four-wheel drive Serval, but the technology could be fitted to other types of vehicles, Tollet said.
The Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) procurement office was expected to order a technology demonstrator to test the proof of concept, after submission of the study. There was also the French army’s STAT office which specializes in the review of technology and operational needs of the service.
Texelis has bought the technology licence for the electric hub drive from Qinetiq. Qinetiq was the British partner which designed the “core electrification” for the hub drive technology. Texelis and Qinetiq entered a “strategic partnership” to design and build the electric hub drive technology for the military armored vehicle market, the companies said in a joint statement May 18, 2021.
Two students from the Strasbourg school of journalism were on the press visit, filming their documentary on European defense. Visitors were required to wear bright orange reflective vests and protective shoes, after being cleared through security.
The 35,000 square meter plant, previously an arsenal for the French air force, was large enough to build three to five times the present output of powertrains, Tollet said. The company delivered some 120 Serval mobility packages a year, and expected production to rise to 160 in 2026, out to 2030 for the French army. That forecast was based on the 2024-2030 LPM multi-year military budget law.
After the visit of the vast factory, there was a drive with two French army drivers in a Serval in the wooded grounds of a large country house just outside the city. The ride and suspension were clearly for a combat vehicle not of a limousine.
Water dripped from the roof of the vehicle on the right hand side, and a pool of water lay on the driver’s side of the front compartment.
Hybrid Technology
There has been lively interest in applying hybrid technology to military vehicles, with the French manufacturer Arquus developing its Scarabée, a light armored vehicle demonstrator with a diesel/electric engine.
The DGA has awarded at least three research contracts on the Scarabée, specialist website Zone Militaire reported. These studies included the Electer project on hybrid propulsion, Optifab on high grade armor, and Numco, a predictive maintenance system.
Arquus has a plant, with a water tower bearing the company name, next to the Texelis factory.
The previous prime minister, Michel Barnier, visited the Texelis factory Nov. 29, accompanied by four ministers, including the industry minister. Barnier resigned Dec. 5 after just three months in office, after opposition parties rejected his draft 2025 budget and he lost a parliamentary no-confidence vote.
Seeking Export Sales
Texelis, much like many other French companies, was seeking foreign sales, helped by a domestic order.
“Serval gives them a good deal of assurance,” said Marc Chassillan, a specialist in military land systems. “Beyond that, they must win in exports.”
The company was selling an export version of the Serval mobility package, dubbed Celeris.
Texelis hoped to strike a direct partnership with a foreign government, Tollet said. The firm worked with local industrial partners, which fitted the powertrains locally.
The company saw Southeast Asia as a key region, with Indonesia a prime country market.
Texelis won a contract toward the end of 2023 to supply a Celeris mobility package to its Indonesian partner, PT Sentra Surya Ekajaya, or PT SSE. SSE assembled these packages into its P2 Tiger armored personnel carrier for the Indonesian special forces.
Those Indonesian vehicles were previously equipped with Russian-built powertrains, Tollet said. The P2 Tiger was seen as escort vehicle for the French-built Caesar truck-mounted artillery operated by the Indonesian army.
Texelis would attend the Indo Defence trade show to be held in Jakarta. That show had been postponed to January 2025 from November 2024, as a new president took up office in October.
Prabowo Subianto, a former defense minister, was sworn in as president of Indonesia in October. Prabowo is a former general and ex-special forces commander. Washington had previously banned him from travelling to the U.S., reflecting concerns over alleged human rights abuse, which were unproven and which Prabowo has denied, Reuters reported.
Indonesia is a critical market for France. Jakarta ordered in February 2022 42 Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter jets and missiles, in an arms deal worth $8.1 billion. The then defense minister, Florence Parly, said on social media Jakarta had also announced a plan to order two Scorpene diesel/electric attack submarines from Naval Group, a French shipbuilder.
Jakarta’s order for 34 KNDS France Caesar 155 mm 52 caliber cannon dates back to 2012, in €108 million deal financed by a commercial bank loan for under five years and an interest rate below 200 basis points. A basis point is 1/100th of a percentage point and is keyed to a benchmark rate such as the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR).
Jakarta in 2014 ordered from the Thales U.K. unit the Starstreak short-range, surface-to-air missile, in a deal worth over £100 million ($127 million).
On the other side of the Pacific, Texelis has partnered with Inkas, with the Canadian company building what it called “special purpose vehicles,” which included armored personnel carriers and tactical armored vehicles.
It was rare for a European company to be a supplier in North America, Tollet said.
To Tracked Vehicles
The French company has expanded into supplying drivelines for tracked vehicles, signing up with Milrem Robotics, an Estonian builder of uncrewed vehicles.
Milrem has picked Texelis as a “strategic supplier” of mobility subsystems for development of a new generation of robotic combat vehicles (RCVs), the Tallinn-based company said in a Nov. 21 statement.
“Texelis will supply Milrem Robotics with a cutting-edge Tank Electrified Drivetrain to assist in creating highly capable, modular, 12+ ton robotic platforms designed to meet the demands of modern warfare,” the Estonian company said.
Texelis is the joint prime contractor with KNDS France, formerly known as Nexter, on the Serval, a light version of the VBMR Griffon, a heavy multi-role armored vehicle. There will be some 35 versions of the Serval. The Serval and Griffin will replace the venerable VAB, an armored personnel carrier of some 40 years service.
The Griffon, Jaguar combat and reconnaissance vehicle, Serval, and SICS communications network are the main elements of the French army’s Scorpion modernization program. There is also MEPC, a 120mm mortar version of Griffon.
Staff Wanted
The company employed some 350 staff, with a spread of experience.
The company recently recruited a young woman for sales and marketing, including seeking leads for export prospects. The new recruit had just graduated from a Paris university and had completed a Master’s dissertation of some 40 pages on difficulties of small and medium sized companies in the arms sector. She had pursued her studies alongside a work internship with Arquus, and through the graduate network she had applied for a post at Texelis.
There was also a 40-year old man who worked as a mechanic and had helped draft the service manual for the Serval. He had joined the company, then part of the Renault trucks company, some 20 years ago, having left secondary school with little to show in academic qualification. The mechanic, who had worked on the civil and military side of the company, would take phone calls from army personnel needing help on the Serval.
Texelis invested €1.4 million ($1.5 million) in the Limoges factory last year, and was spending a further €2.1 million over 2024-2025, the company said. That investment included 3D scanning and production. The company recruited 25 staff this year.
The medium-sized company expected to increase 2024 sales to €120 million, up €10 million from 2023.
The privately held company supplies the Serval powertrain, or mobility package, which includes a Cummins engine, Allison gearbox, Michelin tires, suspension, and axles.
Texelis ships the packages to Roanne, central France, where KNDS France assembles the VBMR-L armored vehicle. The Roanne plant also assembles the Griffon and Jaguar, and ships the three vehicles to the DGA, which sends them to the army.
There are some 20 Texelis staff at the KNDS Roanne plant.
Texelis has an office at Lyon, seen as convenient transport hub for Paris. Limoges also has a small regional airport, seen as convenient for the French army TBM light turboprop plane.
The Serval program was expected to create more than 600 jobs by 2025, the armed forces ministry said March 7.
For an earlier story on Texelis, see the following:
A Look at Texelis: French Builder of Mobility Packages for Armored Vehicles